Who is right? Child seeing animal die.

[Ifyourawizardwhydouwearglasses]

Interesting one maybe? This came up today and I'm not sure if my immediate reaction was correct.

DH and 2 year old DS were outside. We live on a farm and I can see the stock yard from the house.
Every morning DS goes with DH to help feed etc.

This morning they'd been out an hour or so and come back into the yard. Suddenly I heard a gunshot. I looked out and DH had shot a sick (dying) calf. DS was watching.

When they came in I said that I didn't think it had been appropriate for DS to watch the calf being shot and could he not do it again.
DH said that he disagreed, it's better for DS to learn about this kind of thing from an early age, rather than be sheltered until he's 10 and then get a shock.
I can see his point, but wondered what others thought?

I still don't know what I think. DS was spectacularly un-bothered btw.

"I find it incredibly hypocritical when people are happy to use animals for food and clothing yet don't want to think about the reality of where they come from and how they get to your table."

girlwiththegruffalotattoo I agree with you 100%. With education comes evolution.

I try to eat as animal free as possible, for the sake of the planet, the animals, and my health.
I think if adults want to eat meat, they should rear, catch and slaughter the beast.
We have had to kill chickens before, as we've kept them for years.
But I feel strongly about protecting and educating my children.
I think seeing it in such a graphic way from an early age may cheapen life iyswim.

I agree with your DH though I'd do a bit of explanation of gun safety and why the animal needed killing. Especially the gun safety- my mum's friend's kid accidentally killed his brother thinking a shotgun wasn't loaded.

I'm 99% veggie (very occasionally eat fish and had a snail last week!) which is why I think people should be aware of where their food comes from so they can make informed decisions about what they eat.

I'm with your dh.

I don't think it's " graphic" to a 2,year old farming child , it's just what happens. It's graphic if you've spent most of your life being told guns are wrong and that animals die in so d lovely "circle of life" instead of being eaten alive or getting ill.

I do 't know any farming child that takes life for granted either. They will mostly see everyone trying to keep animals alive regardless of time of day or how wet, cold or miserable it is outside..

I'm with your DH. Better to understand and be respectful of the animals and life and death.

Surely part of living on a farm?

I think your DH did the right thing.

Personally, I agree with your DH. If you grow up on a farm, it's part of life. As for people commenting about the gun, it's completely normal for a farmer to have one. They have a licence and have to keep them in a gun cabinet, separate from the cartridges.

I come from a farming family. We had sheep. From a young age, I'd seen their throats cut, their dead bodies pulled out of the snow, dead (stillborn or died shortly after birth) lambs. I remember the horrific sight of seeing the sheep who'd frozen to death, basically, and I remember the dog my stepdad shot (for worrying some mothers and lambs) but it's part of living on a farm. Better he knows now, knows that it is normal and also knows that every animal should die humanely and be treated respectfully.

He didn't say anything about it? He didn't tell him that the animal was too poorly to get better? He just shot him dead without explanation in front of him?

I'd be cross too.

I don't have a problem with death, it happens, it's no big secret, but I don't like guns and children mixing. Captive bolt would be ok, but I think he was blasting calves with the 12 bore? Everyone is always in danger with a loaded gun around, he really shouldn't be out with a gun and a child, simply not safe.

I'm from a farming family and now a vegetarian. I think that DH should have discussed it with you but it was an important thing to see. I think DH was right.

I don't really have an issue with children watching an animal be killed - my two watched a cat pounce and kill a mouse at a farm the other week (tame) - just seeing dangerous equipment being used.

Damn near all equipment on farms is dangerous. Guns are the least of the safety concerns on a farm. Guns have controls are are kept in locked cabinets with the ammo kept elsewhere.
The rest of the equipment that is just kept around the place is farm more dangerous than guns. I too remember watching Apaches at school. Nearly every child at my school lived on of near a farm. It was proper scary stuff.

Not from a farming family but married into one and live in an agricultural area. I agree with your DH.
My own DH grew up knowing that the animals he raised were going to be slaughtered at some point, he knew that they were there for that reason, not as pets. Every year he would help to fatten up animals for slaughter at Christmas, the bolt gun was in use in plain view and as soon as he (and his siblings) were old enough they helped in the process. The gun cabinet was inaccessible, high up and they understood the consequences of going near it.
Farming families are a breed apart, they have to understand from an early age that their way of life is different to those of us who didn't grow up in one.
Too many children don't understand the link between the meat on the plate and the animals in the field - it's ridiculous.

I agree with your DH, I think the younger a child is, the easier it will be for them to accept these things, and that death is (ironically) a normal part of life.

I am with your DH.

It's part of your lives and farming culture so I think he should see it.

I don't think guns are wrong.I think farmers should have tighter controls when it comes to gun use though.

I don't understand what is good or beneficial about a 2 year old seeing an animal shot, however.

I agree with your DH.

Also some of the attitudes to guns on here are mind boggling. Numerous posters who have grown up on farms have said how aware they were/are of gun safety. Of course guns are dangerous, but mostly in the hands of criminals and people who don't know/respect guns! A blanket NO to DC ever seeing/hearing a gun is ridiculous.

We live on farm where people shoot regularly. I don't keep a gun in the house (mostly because I think it makes me more of a target for burglaries) but the DC are so aware of guns and the respect that should be afforded to them.

I have seen some dreadful gun practices by farmers.

Hello? The gun is fine because kept in a locked cabinet yadda yadda? No, the gun was loaded and shot while the person holding it was in (presumably) sole charge of a two year old. You know those creatures that are liable to dart off at any time, eg to look/touch an animal.

Tinker that was my issue too. It's maybe a risk of 1% but that 1% is unnecessary. I would be telling my DH no using firearms near my child.

Stripes So because you have never seen an accident involving guns, they're fine around children? Since when did that make sense?

Safety on. Check two year old is at suitable distance. Safety off. Shoot. Safety on.

Safety fails or malfunctions...or 2 year old suddenly moves unexpectedly as they do....

Do you not cross roads? Eat solid food you can choke on? Have gas in your house? Drive a car?

Everything. EVERYTHING comes with a risk.

With roads I hold 2 year olds hand.
Gas I have annual check.
Car gets mot.
All basic safety rules are stuck to in order to reduce risk.